Russian President Vladimir Putin supervised strategic nuclear forces drills amid uncertainty surrounding a potential summit with US President Donald Trump to address the Ukraine conflict.
The Ukrainian Air Force on Thursday said that Russia launched a massive missile attack on the city of Dnipro, involving intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
On Thursday, the Chinese military published its ICBM launch photos, shedding its secrecy.
This is the first time in decades that China has made its flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile public in an apparent show of strategic deterrence, State-run China Daily reported.
The US military fired an intercontinental ballistic missile-type weapon on Tuesday from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. It then fired a missile to intercept it from Vandenberg air force base in California.
The Generation-next hypersonic inter-continental ballistic missile is capable of dodging any future missile shield.
Even without a sanctioned government project for the Agni-6, it seems inevitable that the Agni-5, over the next few years, will organically evolve into an ICBM with improved technologies and capabilities.
The new generation Dongfeng-41 is estimated to have a strike distance of 12,000 to 14,000 kilometers and armed with single, 3, 6, or even 10 multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) warheads.
China has more than 500 nuclear bombs in its arsenal and is developing new Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) that will significantly improve its nuclear-capable missile forces, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
After personally overseeing the test Kim Jong-un 'said American bastards would be not very happy with this gift sent on the July 4 anniversary'.
India is on course to test-fire the over 5,000 km range nuclear-capable Agni-5 missile next year and a successful mission would put the country in an elite club of nations with Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capabilities.
This ICBM is theoretically capable of reaching all of the United States mainland.
Trump said, 'North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy (Kim) have anything better to do with his life?'
The report put India's 'stored' nuclear warheads at 172 in January this year while the number for Pakistan was 170.
According to the Pentagon report, the PLA is creating options for dissuading, deterring, and defeating external intervention in the Indo-Pacific region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday monitored drills of the country's strategic nuclear forces involving multiple practice launches of ballistic and cruise missiles, the Kremlin said.
The new missile could deliver 2,000 to 3,500 kilograms of payload to any point in the continental US, notes Rajaram Panda.
A lot of new technologies developed indigenously were successfully tested in the trial.
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov during a briefing said that the strike with the air-launched missile system took place on Friday, reported Russian Times.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned China that its 'material support' for Russia's war against Ukraine would attract sanctions and condemned the 'unacceptable violation' of American sovereignty by a Chinese spy balloon as he met Beijing's top diplomat Wang Yi.
In the test, a space rocket boosted a hypersonic glide vehicle, one capable of carrying a nuclear device, which circled the globe before impacting.
China is expected to boost its nuclear arsenal after President Xi Jinping's remarks at the key Congress of the ruling Communist Party in Beijing for the first time that Beijing will establish strong strategic deterrence, experts have said.
Joint Chief of Staff Committee Chairman Gen Ahsanul Haq has said Pakistan is self-sufficient.
North Korea on Friday launched an ICBM for the second time in a month.
The Agni-V can reach beyond Tibet to high-value targets in the Chinese heartland, even its northern-most provinces.
Xi said the entire military should devote all its energy to carry out all its work for combat readiness, enhance its capability to fight and win, and effectively fulfill its missions and tasks
Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday directed that the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the ships in her strike group will remain on station in the general area to monitor the situation.
The 119 nearly identical construction sites, that could potentially house powerful weapons capable of reaching the American mainland, are similar to those seen at existing launch facilities for China's arsenal of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, the report said.
The United States air force nuclear command has been rocked by the worst cheating scandal in proficiency exam involving 34 officers at the inter-continental missile launch of the global strike command, the Pentagon has said.
'Pyongyang's strategy seems to be a cry to be treated as equal with the US and Beijing and this aspiration is premised on equipping itself with weapons as devastating as theirs,' says Rajaram Panda.
'The world may be desirous of peace, but not Kim Jong-un.' 'Should we then accept the old adage that to maintain peace, we should be prepared for war?' asks Rajaram Panda.
There were reports that there was was dissent in the US President's regime over North Korea.
'Putin is just flexing his muscles. He is not going to do anything. He is not that crazy.'
Must Watch: Agni 5 launch; Veena gets Dirty
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Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday described the maiden test flight of the Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile Agni 5 as an "immaculate success" and a "major milestone". "The nation stands tall today. We have joined the elite club of nations (to possess the ICBM capability)," Antony told Defence Research and Development Organisation chief Dr V K Saraswat on the phone after the test flight of the missile was declared successful today.
The terrible beauty of Doval's initiative is that it is all about a new journey rather than about a set compass pointing toward a pre-determined destination, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Once Agni-3 and Agni-5 are inducted into the forces, all the cities in China and Pakistan will be in India's range, Defence Research and Development Organisation Chief V K Saraswat said.
Kim did not rule out diplomacy with the Biden administration despite that Pyongyang called Biden a 'rabid dog' after Biden labelled Kim a 'thug'.